Wrong Action, Right Reason
by A Small Voice
Summary: Post-Season 4. XANA comes back and starts to take over. He wants his slave back and the main opposition out of the way. William centered. Canon pairings. Lame summary. Good story. If I was good at summaries, this wouldn't be multi-chaptered.
1. Prologue

He opened his eyes to darkness, and blinked until shapes could be made out. The world around him was flat and dark. Black mists obscured the ground, making it impossible to see any pitfalls or objects to trip over. As he observed his surroundings, he questioned why he was where he was. He wasn't breathing and had a weapon. That alone told him Lyoko, but none of the sectors looked like this. At least, none that he knew.

"CAW-CAW!" This onomatopoeia broke the silence. He looked up to see vulture-like monsters flying above his head. He watched them circle until he heard an eruption explode on his right. Jumping five feet in the air, which is impossible anywhere except Lyoko and sometimes on Lyoko, he turned to face it. Red liquid spewed high into the air. He did what anybody thinking straight would do. He took off like a bullet.

Unable to see the ground he tripped, and went flying. Traveling fast does not help avoid obstacles. He landed facing up, and noticed the sky had no features: no moon, no stars, and no clouds. The vultures were still circling where he began. He shuddered and moved to get to his feet. He vowed to be more careful this time. More like a turtle "Slowly and surely wins the race."

This was when he became aware of vines twisted around his body. He struggled and they tightened, fastening him firmly to the ground. They kept tightening until he could no longer move, and then they started to burn, like the lights on the bottom of an oven that has just been turned on.

That's when the screaming began. High-pitched screams coming from all around, piercing him with a plea for help. He started to fight again, desperate to rescue the one from whom the screams came. Fighting harder and harder as the ropes burned hotter and hotter. Suddenly, he froze. The screams had quieted into whimpers and the atmosphere had gotten even darker.

Above him, a red bull's-eye cut into the featureless sky. It watched him, taking amusement in his petty attempt to escape and rescue the victim. He stared back at it, eyes wide as he recognized it. _No. NO! _he tried to scream, but his vocal cords were locked and no sound came out. The screams started up again. _NO!_ The eye laughed.

_**You cannot escape your fate, William! And neither can she.**_

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Author's Note:

Hi people! This is my first multi-chapter fanfic, and the first fan-fic I've posted here on . I hope you enjoyed the prologue. I follow canon pairings, and will try to cater to reviewers' suggestions. I have the first chapter halfway done and will put it up soon if people review. I accept flames and request that flamers use a one pro:one con ratio. Chapters will get longer and probably better, so please stick around.

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, though I wish I did and hope to own one of the backgrounds in Evolution


	2. Chapter 1

Hi everyone! I'm back with the first chapter.

Reasons this took so long:

1. I was waiting for people to review.

2. The Beta Reader system is confusing.

I do not own Code Lyoko.

Enjoy.

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William shot up in bed, tangling himself in the covers. This was the fifth time this week that he'd had the nightmare, and it was no less scary. The dream was realistic, and he had absolutely no idea who was screaming. It was aggravating to say the least. He wondered if it might be a good idea to talk to Jeremie about it. The young Einstein may be able to place some parts of his dream. The location and monsters could be Lyoko related—something from his time as a prisoner of XANA. He hoped he hadn't tortured someone without his knowledge. It was bad enough he'd become a hindrance to his friends instead of the extra help they'd intended.

It had been three months since he'd been freed and XANA had been destroyed. People still looked at him strangely, unable to get over how idiotically he/his clone had acted, but he was happy to be free, and always turned feelings of neglect and hurt into happier moments, to keep it hidden. Yumi and the rest of the Lyoko Warriors were getting around to including him again. They needed him today at least. He slowly got up.

William sighed. The day was April 15th, the last day of Spring Break and the day Jeremie had chosen to be Aelita's birthday. He had avoided seeing the extreme disappointment in his parents' eyes over the break by insisting he had to study and work on extra credit assignments at the school in order to bring up his grades. At the school meaning he wasn't coming home for break. Jim, Rosa, and a few other students populated the school, but they were so few and far between that it felt like he was the only one there.

Glancing at the clock, he noticed it was almost midday. _I really have to stop going to bed past midnight, _he thought. _I'm late._ He got dressed and headed downstairs to grab some lunch off campus while he still could. Jim always made sure to enforce boarders eating lunch at the cafeteria on weekdays during school. He had no idea how the gang had managed to sneak out repeatedly during mealtimes.

Pausing by the girls' floor, he noticed that Aelita's door was open, and the lights were on. He headed over, praying she was in there, and not off somewhere else. She was still recovering from her father's death and would often go somewhere to be by herself. Although XANA wasn't a threat anymore, none of them wanted the practically defenseless girl to wander into a dangerous part of the city by herself, so they always made sure one of the gang was with her at all times unless she was in one of three approved locations: her room, the nurse's office, or the hermitage.

"Hey Aelita, I thought you were coming back tomorrow?" he asked as he walked in, crossing his fingers behind his back for the white lie.

She looked up and smiled at him. Will had noticed that Aelita never seemed to hold a grudge. He wondered if she was even able to. "That was the original plan, but Jeremie and I spent the whole break relaxing and taking driving lessons. His parents sent us back a day early, so that we could have a day to do our homework. Did you know that there are circles south of here that cause all cars to go in the same direction? It's a really smart idea."

"That's the first time I've heard relaxing and driving lessons in the same sentence without a 'not' in front of relaxing."

"Well, I was relaxed. Jeremie and his dad, not so much. Driving was a bit like piloting the Skid."

"You skidded while driving. No wonder they weren't relaxed," William commented, laughing and the mental image of Aelita in the car, skidding whilst Jeremie and his dad held on for dear life. The boys would both be screaming and begging Aelita to hit the brakes. Aelita would have a huge, crazy smile on her face, as she pressed the accelerator down further. It was a great picture.

"No. I meant the Skidbladnir, a virtual ship Jeremie and I programmed to travel through the digital sea. It was destroyed by the Kolossus the day we got you back, and I was an excellent driver." To Aelita's dismay, William's laughter didn't decrease and he was now rolling on the ground. She stared him down until he managed to curb it to silence.

"Well, I'm headed out to lunch. Wanna come?" He questioned, his shoulders still shaking.

"Sure. Let me just ask Jeremie." She gave him a look that said "Quit your laughing or else." The "or else" wasn't really anything because Aelita would never hurt a fly, unless the fly was a hornet, possessed by XANA, or another thing related to XANA. Since XANA was no more, no flies would be seriously injured. Spiders, however, would meet their tragic end by way of Odd, Ulrich, or Yumi. Aelita hated spiders.

"K," He got up and went out into the hall, while she called her boyfriend.

"He said he was working on something really important, and would be sure to grab something to eat later," Aelita frowned. William searched for a quick way to distract her from Jeremie and what he was doing, without giving away a hint.

"We could hit a boulangerie or café. Your choice. I've been to all my favorite places this week."

"Café. There's a small one Jeremie and I like a short way from here, unless there's one you want to go to." William liked watching Aelita when she talked about Jeremie. Her eyes always seemed to sparkle, and she glowed with happiness. They were the perfect couple, and everyone could see it. Even Sissi, who had dubbed them Mr. and Mrs. Einstein, an accurate nickname that didn't carry over the insult Sissi had most likely meant to inflict. In fact, it went along with Odd's original nickname for Jeremie.

The two young teens left the dorm and headed towards the entrance of the school. William noticed a familiar, raven-haired girl his age walking in with a backpack that appeared to be bulging with stuff. It was partially open, but he couldn't see inside from his distance. She was too busy trying to get the bag to close and walk at the same time to notice them.

"HEY! YUMI!" He called, waving to get her attention. Yumi looked up and around. She spotted William and smiled, and then noticed Aelita and a strange expression passed over her face that William wasn't sure he'd seen before. It was gone as quickly as it came. She headed their way, putting a hand over the open part of her bag as she came.

"Hey Will. Hey Princess."

"Hey Yumi. What's in the bag?" Aelita asked, giving Yumi an angelic smile.

"Some stuff. Where are you going?"

"We're headed to a café to grab some lunch. Would you like anything? You told me you working on something important today, so I suppose you wouldn't want to come." He grinned at her.

"Nah. I ate before I came over here. Thanks for the offer, though." Yumi put her backpack on, having finally succeeded in getting it shut.

"Why don't you go to the arcade afterwards? I heard they were having a two for one deal. Sounds like fun." She grinned back. She may have chosen Ulrich, but William was sure that she was glad to have him back. He wondered just how badly his clone had acted to make him seem this good. As far as he could remember, Yumi didn't like having him around too much before he got Xanaified.

Yumi's phone beeped. "Duty calls. Have fun, you two!" She turned and headed up to the school, careful to keep the bag closed.

"Bye Yumi!" Aelita called, waving. She was quiet for a moment, and then turned to William, "What's Yumi doing?"

"Umm… I'll tell you later. I'm famished. Lead the way to that café you were talking about."

"It's…" She spun a few circles, and then said, "That way… I think…"

"Great. Let's go." The two teens set off into the city.

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Please review. It will get chapters out faster. :)

Thank you to JeremyX for being my first reviewer and Soul Jelly for reviewing and Beta Reader stuff.


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